


Star-Crossed Enemies

by Ninjantome



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Love/Hate, Mutual Pining, Reincarnation, Resolved Sexual Tension, Shameless Smut, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:34:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28466136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ninjantome/pseuds/Ninjantome
Summary: After fighting each other throughout the galaxy for years, Rose and Hux find themselves in a new life.Now their ledgers have been erased... unfinished businesses remain, feelings that have yet to named.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Rose Tico
Comments: 16
Kudos: 43
Collections: Gingerose Holiday Exchange 2020: Secret Spy





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ElfMaidenOfLight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElfMaidenOfLight/gifts).



> Happy GingerRose Holiday ElfMaidenOfLight! I hope you will enjoy this GingerRose reincarnated :3  
> And to everyone stopping here for second chances and love-hate tension, let me know if you like it in the comments ^^  
> Good reading :)

In the modern halls of Mon Cala Space Agency, Rose’s dancing gait could not be mistaken for anyone else’s. Her steps beat a joyful rhythm, echoing along the glassy office walls and heavy secured doors. Her shiny new badge was bouncing between the open folds of her yellow lab coat.

Rose liked the weight of it. The way it spelled her name for everyone and reminded them that she belonged in this place of technological prowess.

Humming, she walked down empty laboratories until she reached the only left lightened. Her round face sprang in the door frame with a beaming smile as she crooned: “Alan! Workday is over!”

Her coworker glanced in her direction before her contagious smile took over his old features. As usual, his glasses had fallen down his nose, but his hands were too busy with assembling the components of a new fan system to take care of it. The bright light from his worktable highlighted his face from under, casting strange shadows on his dark skin.

“I’m almost done.” He informed with a voice deep in his work.

Curious dancing steps came up to him. “Is this for the next launcher?” Rose enquired, leaning as far as she could without getting in his way.

“Yes. The fans did not pass the lightning trial. Reducing the size still cause too many thermal issues.” He indulged her inquiring mind.

“Did you work on the flux converter already?” Rose replied, eyeing the notes her colleague curiously despite herself.

“The power converter you mean?”

“Huh, yes!” She suddenly took a step back from the worktable. Rose’s blouse became stifling hot when she realized her mistake. Alan continued, oblivious of her trouble.

“We did, but… can’t point out why it can’t hold the right amount of power.”

Rose’s hair buns moved between him and his work again, and he let the young engineer have a look. Her scanning gaze documented each piece, comparing their placements with her readings and own experiments. This challenge to most was a child’s play for her.

“The curve feels wrong.” Rose pointed out, without any calculation or instruments. “Do you have the layout somewhere?”

Alan scrolled on a transparent screen before him and zoomed on the plans he’d been keeping under hand. Rose’s mouth twisted in intense thinking, many schematics coming back to her. Her pupils were running at each corner of the plans, while she made and unmade the system within her mental schematics.

“That’s what I thought. The layout doesn’t take in count the rotation axis, and once it’s molded it affects the converter. Try to shape it inwards, it’ll reduce the power loss.”

Pushing his glasses up his nose, Alan smiled with a slight shake of head. “Looks like you’re the one who did that your whole life.”

Rose’s cheerful grin dug dimples into her cheeks, turning her slanted eyes into crescent moons before she shyly looked away. This was the main reason why she quickly got along with Alan. He did not dismiss her help because she ‘had no idea what was going on in a world renown agency’.

He had been a precious friend since her arrival in Mon Cala SA, Rose thought fondly. But a false note sometimes made its way into Rose’s happiness. An illegitimate and bothering sharp sound that made her dancing steps going off rhythm.

An unfulfilled need to be understood. That someone will finally see the layout as clearly as she was seeing it. Despite his kindness, this was not Alan’s case. It had never been the case with anyone.

He opened his mouth, visibly ready to launch into detailed improvements for the fans, when the sight of Rose’s handbag brought him back to the hour of the day.

“Did you come here to get me out or to finish my work?” He scolded her with playful exaggeration.

His exclamation pulled Rose out of her spiraling thoughts. Back to the empty laboratory where they were the only engineers with visibly nothing better to do than to be here on a Thursday night.

“Please, don’t tell anyone. They’ll give me more work than I can dream of!” Rose gasped impishly in return, easily falling back into their friendly back and forth.

She let him pack his belongings in his worn-out backpack and turned off the pill lights around the lab walls. Then the two of them made their way through the several secured doors between the huge lab and the parking lot.

“I was thinking we could go to Hayley’s,” Rose suggested enthusiastically, chasing for good the earlier hint of bitterness that sipped through the cracks of her joyful self.

“Did you forget the party tonight?” Alan cocked his head on the side, old eyes turning a notch paternal.

“Party?”

Rose’s sheepishness slipped right back into her voice. Shame of forgetting another thing that wasn’t engineering related reddened her cheeks. She knew Alan would mean no harm, yet her embarrassment was all the same.

“Armie’s birthday?” He offered kindly. “I thought that’s why you came to fetch me.”

“Sorry. It completely passed over my head.”

“Don’t worry. He left Mon Cala a couple of years before you got in.”

“Oh really?”

In Rose’s head, this Armie already gained her esteem for having previously worked in a space program. She knew the hardships one was going through to make a difference in this field. It involved far more tinkering than people suspected. But as she focused to register everything her colleague was giving her, a detail struck Rose.

“He must have been really close with the people here, to invite them to his birthday after leaving the company.”

Alan’s hoarse laugh echoed in the main hall between the high glassy walls of the vast modernist entrance.

“Oh no, this guy doesn’t have friends.” The old man answered her inquiring look. “He is an over achiever. Never had time for anything else than work. A bit of a douchebag, if I may. But he keeps good contacts in the field through this kind of parties.”

Her opinion of Armie began its descent with too much speed before crashing down, not unlike their last launcher. If even his birthday was an occasion to make work contacts, he did not look like a man who had a life outside of his job.

“Wow, sounds like a real keeper...” She concluded with slight disappointment. “And he keeps inviting everyone? Not just the managers and heads of departments?”

The chill evening air wrapped around the engineers on their way out, blowing lightly in the flaps of their lab coats. Rose couldn’t help gazing at the stars that began to prickle the night sky. However, she did not find the comfort that they usually provided her.

“In his own words, we have an image of unity to uphold. Afterall the young and brilliant engineers of today may become the leaders of tomorrow.”

Her gaze drifted back to Alan as they reached her car. The solar powered streetlights casted a cold blue light on them. At least the birthday guy did not sound like a dismissive old man. It was more the portrait of a man cultivating his own profit. A bit lonely as well.

“Don’t bother too much about him. He gets to show off and we get to drink for free.”

Rose nodded, fumbling for her keys down her purse. Alan was right. She was thinking through this too much as usual.

 _Where are those car keys?_ She swore, she had too much stuff in this damn bag–

“Come on Rose, the others are waiting for us.”

She froze.

Did you ever experience this feeling, as a scene unravels before your eyes, that you already witnessed this exact moment, in this exact place, with the same persons? Like the pieces of a puzzle that you already made before and your fingers remember by themselves. Then before you realize it, every detail falls into place.

It happened to Rose on numerous occasions. But her visions were far, far away from her present life. She believed for a long time that they were stories she imagined. But the right word was rather… memories. This one was about a friend, going away with the exact same words…

_Come on Rose, the others are waiting for us._

His vest had been roughly sown back where a laser blade had sliced it. He walked up to the ramp of an aircraft. People in orange fly suits passing between them as he called for her. Rose knew his name. _Finn_ …

Her steps brought her forward, wanting to follow him. She longed to hold her friend, to hear his voice once again and for him to reassure her. That she wasn’t fantasizing all that.

Finn’s intangible form was escaping her once more. Ever present but never in her reach. And Rose despaired to ever live free of these visions.

She shook the haze of remembrance clouding her head and slid in the privacy of her car. Her grip tightened on the wheel as her forehead laid on the top of the leathery surface. She breathed in and out, recalling what her therapist said about staying in the present. But the vividness of those moments held her heart in a grasp too real to ignore.

She was not in space. Rose hammered inside her head. She was on Earth. And she was going to a party, not on a mission. But this mantra was easier to hear without the sounds of combat boots stomping around her.

She drowned them decisively in the rumble of her engine. Then, with the firm intention of letting all this in her rearview mirror, Rose focused on the road ahead. Without a doubt, this birthday party was exactly was she needed right now.

.

Rose hurried down the street to the apartment complex where she was supposed to arrive half an hour ago. Her heels clicked frenetically; steps shortened by the short green dress she had passed on. Maybe it was a notch too fancy for a work party, but at this point anything was good to get her mind off those unsettling déjà-vu!

The stiffness of the fabric hugging her body was enough of a distraction. It wasn’t as comfortable as her beloved lab coat and overalls, but as she approached the sleek geometric lines of the monochrome apartments, all artistically stacked up on each other, confidence steadied her steps.

Wrapped in the power of a flattering outfit, Rose placed a self-assured hand on the high grid. The portal opened automatically as soon as she touched it, and Rose spotted the movement of a surveillance camera above her head. It only increased her impression of entering a high clearance facility. She hoped it was the right address or it’d become really awkward.

White stone stairs were paving Rose’s way up to a high and intimidating black door. She ignored the chill night air and the tremors that creeped behind her back at the idea of making a late entrance. With a little chance she will be able to slip inside stealthily Rose hoped, as she climbed up to the elegant entrance. 

_Should I ring? Is it an automatic door too?_ Seeing no obvious camera this time, Rose gathered her courage to push the door. A light hubbub greeted her at the end of a corridor. Rose followed a mix of joyous chatter and classy music up to the entrance of a wide living room.

Under the golden light, half of her department as well as people she had never seen before where seated on dark elegant couches, or drinking in small groups from the impeccable kitchen to a large bay window. The delicious smells of appetizers passing among the guests greeted Rose, momentarily distracting her from her search for known faces.

Every furniture, every glass of champagne and burst of laughter built an appealing and gilded world from which the young engineer felt estranged. Rose stepped within the crowd unable to shake a disconcerting wariness. She usually loved hanging around scientists and engineers for their open minds. So why did she have the distinct feeling that every party goer in dress pants around her was participating in some kind of shady business?

Luckily, familiar faces chased away Rose’s unwanted set of mind.

“Rose!”

The arm of a short brunette wearing a navy blazer hugged her tight. She stepped away with a friendly smile, careful with the drink that she was holding in her other hand.

“We thought you’d never come!”

“Hi Lucy!” Rose returned brightly, the crescent moons of her eyes filling with warmth as she waved at her other coworkers. “Hi guys!”

Three men, including Alan greeted her back. She never expected that the sight of their old school sweaters and glasses would soothe her nerves, but it worked wonders on her jittery self.

She grabbed a glass passing by her shoulder, focusing on the coolness of the drink on her fingertips. The conversation resumed on the latest science fiction movie that was animating Rose’s colleagues. Their debate about the physicality of spaceships became a familiar hum in Rose’s environment as she took a better look at the softly lightened balcony and the wooden stairs leading to the upper level.

Rose shook her head as she realized she was identifying exits. _What is wrong with you girl?!_ Fortunately, Lucy had her covered, and provided her with some canapés that melted in her mouth.

“Oh my god, it’s delicious!” Rose exclaimed, half of her mouth occupied with a mouthful of appetizer.

“Isn’t it? Armie isn’t stingy when it comes to hosting.” The brunette approved while engulfing a whole vol-au-vent.

“I wanted to wish him a happy birthday at least,” Rose scanned the room full of researchers absent-mindedly, “But I’m so late, I’m worried I’ll just bother him.”

“Don’t beat yourself for it Rose,” Lucy reassured her with a knowing voice, “Unless you signed a paper in Science, he probably won’t notice.”

This moment hit her with the bothering fact that she didn’t have any name for the man of the hour to search for. In any case, she was not about to disrespect her friend’s attention simply to gather more information. Yet the want to match the experiences of her colleagues with facts itched her engineer fingers.

“He’ll certainly make a speech later and you’ll be thankful not approaching him any closer.”

Why was anyone here if that man inspired them such irritation? Her desire to know became too strong to ignore. Moreover, Rose was getting desperate for something to shush her bothering thoughts. Maybe, a quick tour on the Internet wouldn’t hurt?

“What did you say his name w–”

Hand down her bag, Rose’s focus shifted to where her phone decided to hide. A moment of inattention that triggered a dramatic chain of events going from the waiter who hadn’t seen her take a step back to a particularly shameful landing on all four.

Damn heels, damn her misplaced curiosity, Rose cursed everything in a span of a few seconds meanwhile people stepped away from her drink, spilled with the content of her handbag.

The sound of shattered glass broke the flow of conversations in pieces, heads turned in her direction, only increasing the fire spreading on Rose’s face.

Abandoning her dignity on the lustrous stone floor, she picked her belongings as fast as she could. Rose caught a glimpse of Lucy trying to save her keys from the champagne flood.

_You’ve outdone yourself with this one Rose!_

“What happened?” Someone breached through the circle that had widened around Rose.

“I’m sorry I–”

Did you ever experience this painful memory of being on your knees as you meet an old enemy’s gaze; and suddenly everything comes back to you… as clear as the day he leaned down on you pronouncing your death sentence?

No, that was just Rose.

Only her had that unmatched talent for screaming her heart out at the sight of stark green eyes and properly styled red hair before slapping a long-hated face with all she had.

.

Armitage’s head whipped to the side, the imprint of her hand burning through his flesh and bones. His whole body was in shock, frozen halfway through helping her up.

It might be the first time that he was ever thankful for his pain, he thought while his fingers brushed his stinging cheek incredulously. It was throbbing, ringing in his head with a rawness he couldn’t have imagined.

This party, the people around him, the dark floor underneath them, nothing approached the reality of her shock. None of what surrounded him was as rock solid as her short breath, her gaping mouth and the frown knotting her eyebrows.

Before he had the chance to pick himself up, she stormed out with as much fury as in one of his dreams. The bright green of her dress persisting on his retina like the sun.

Then the pressure of the stares lingering on him darkened his vision. Armitage stood up promptly, smoothing down the expensive wool of his black suit. He wasted no time going after her in the crack she left through the crowd. Broken glass cracked under his shiny shoes meanwhile he cleared his throat.

“No harm done everyone!” He reassured his guests, hands raised up in attempt of dismissing the brutality of this reunion. “I’m handling this matter.”

However, his polite and well-crafted tone hardly hid the turmoil agitating him. He left his living room full of astounded rocket scientists and board directors to pursue a woman whom he doubted, up to now, that he would ever see her again. In her panic, she fled where people weren’t blocking her way, and Armitage’s heart raced with an equal fear as she disappeared down the first corridor she saw.

He heard the bathroom door shutting behind the clicking of her heels. _Oh no, I will not allow it!_ In no time Armitage had caught the door handle and yanked it harshly, but the lock clicked in protest. Grip tightening until his knuckles turned white, he sighed exasperatedly through his nose. As if a single door had the power to stop him.

“Open the door,” Armitage demanded, he thought with a tone commanding obedience, but it came out shaken by the stinging memory of her.

“Get away from me!”

Her shout snapped from behind the door, whipping with emotional inflexions that he thought he forgot.

The truth was buried deep yet never gone. He remembered everything!

“Rose… open the door.” A lifetime ago, when there was far more than a wood panel separating them.

Armitage gulped, his Adam’s apple pressing against his throat as he failed to chase the weight of his past coming back and crush him. He let go of the handle and laid his hand flat on the door to support himself.

“Rose Tico.”

The complete silence that answered him made Armitage wish she slapped him again, yelled at him, a reaction, anything!

He shut his eyes close to shield himself from the flashes of wars and troops and intergalactic weapons but there was so little eyelids could do to shield him from all of that. So, he attempted to steady his swirling thought with her image. So vivid and clear, Armitage had never doubted these memories were not a product of his imagination.

Through time and space, he was always a man of certainty, but her quietness began to make his resolution falter. Did she remember him… the way he remembered her? Or was he just a fool chasing down a woman that he simply scared away?!

Somehow, he knew better than to pound against the door, but not frightening her took him his whole strength as he grew desperate for an answer.

Until his patience paid off.

“Hux?”

Her dumbfounded whisper stilled his restless limbs instantly. There were high chances that he was able to hear her because she was leaning against the door as well –Armitage hoped for a moment, with the same astonishment that struck him.

Thousands of questions were pressing inside his head, he couldn’t pick a single one to begin with, so she beat him to it.

“I thought I was crazy…” She shifted out of his sight. “H– How is this possible?”

“If I had the slightest idea…” He would have, in complete honesty, never looked too deep into it.

A glance at the illuminated end of the corridor confirmed him no one had been foolish enough to come and check on them.

“I thought I was the only one.” He let slip a glimpse of years of loneliness.

“You never spoke about it?” Rose reached out through the wood panel, “To anyone?”

“Did you?” Not believing he was actually having this conversation with someone else.

“My therapist…” _Who did not believe you either_ , Armitage thought. “She said in her own words that my imagination was playing tricks on me.”

“But it never wore off isn’t it?”

Like the visions of the past never left him, they did not leave her either. And it was oddly the most comforting thought he had today. Knowing that he was not alone anymore.

His hand slid back on the door handle with a new hope, “Let me in Rose.”

A pregnant pause darkened this spark.

“Do you what never wore off?” The way her voice hardened on the edge made him let go of the handle right away.

“Hays Minor… All the people I loved, dead fighting against the First Order.”

“Rose–”

“The moment I saw you, it all came back!” Her accusation now left no doubt on the impression she left him. His cheek remembered it just as sharply.

“Please! Can I explain myself elsewhere than in my bloody hall?”

Armitage slammed the locked door, only succeeding in shooting a throbbing pain up to his elbow and increasing his anger.

“Will a bathroom be better?!” Rose countered, not showing any fear at his outburst.

“Yes, seeing you would highly improve the situation!”

The unsettling silence that followed triggered Armitage’s worry. He leaned on the door to make sure he didn’t miss her answer.

Instead, the door yielded unexpectedly under his weight. Armitage barely caught himself on the frame, to avoid his chest to collide with a furious Rose.

The air sparked, electrified, in the middle of ground of their dark glares.

She rose against him with fierceness that he had not forgotten even in this life. A rebellious attitude, he allowed himself to phrase in those terms, that used to irk him before. Now an unwanted stirring took him by surprise, as his treacherous eyes glided down her parted lips and heaving chest.

In this space between them everything changed. Time had no other meaning than measuring the hold of their breaths. The attraction of their bodies defying every law of gravity. Those few inches contained a lifetime of missed opportunities and countless new possibilities.

She was there… the rebel mechanic. She came back into his life unexpectedly, sneaking into his flat, crashing his party–

 _The party!_ He cursed, snapping out of her enticing pull.

Using this timely excuse, Armitage retreated from Rose’s personal space and thankfully took a breath of something that wasn’t her heady perfume.

“Allow me– 30 seconds.”

With that, he ran back to his too crowded living room, trying to gather his thoughts all over the place. But his slightly disheveled hair and distressed expression already turned some heads in his direction. Clearing his throat, Armitage clapped his hands loudly, attracting the attention of the ones who had not spotted him yet.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the party is over! Thank you all for coming and drive safely home.”

Questioning looks were exchanged but no one seemed to measure how serious Armitage was until he commanded with a long-underused military voice.

“Out! Now!”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies for taking so long to finish this story! To reward your patience here is a double update ;)

A thrum of hurried steps faded when Rose walked back to the wide main room. It looked strangely smaller than when numerous people were occupying every corner of it. Her mess had been cleaned up, but all the bottles, drinks and platters had been left all round as if a natural disaster made everyone ran away to safety.

Rose was not sure how much of a risk she was taking out of the safety of the bathroom, but she was certainly glad that they all left. She would have hated facing their curious looks. Rose had enough on her plate facing… him.

A tall gust of black suit and red hair whirled around the glassy coffee table to clean up its surface. He was either very orderly or needed to keep his hands busy. Whether it was one or the other, Rose, on her side, needed to sit down.

She forced herself to still despite her restlessness and shifted her focus on Armitage’s lean figure. His pale hollow cheeks, his angular jaws clenching, his see-through eyelashes over his green eyes… They crossed hers and only then Rose realized she had been staring at every detail of him too intently, looking for something wrong; something in his figure that would not make him a former enemy.

Within the Resistance very few had seen what Kylo Ren actually looked like under his mask, let alone Snoke. But the face of the General Hux had been on every holo and every propaganda poster of the First Order. Rose herself had seen up close the hardness of his features. Perhaps that was why she remained speechless to see how they softened when he looked at her, holding a glass in her direction.

“Do you want something to drink?”

Rose shook her head, trying to make sense of his politeness compared to her memories. She watched Armitage pouring himself one third of an amber-colored liquid that he visibly needed. He paced a little before her stare pulled him down on a chair next to hers. His agitation was getting on her nerves, and when he complied to her silent call, she felt braver.

The first sip of his drink worked like magic, sealing his composure. Rose braced herself at the resurgence of this controlled behavior that she learnt to fear.

Obviously, he scared her at first. But now that they were only them, in the aftermath of his party, she wanted the explanations he promised her.

“I doubt my apologizes mean anything to you.” He started with carefully chosen words. “But I’m no stranger to the nightmares that a war time brings.”

Empathy coming out of this mouth unsettled her, tearing her between suspicion and relief. She folded her knees under her, in a more defensive position than she intended to.

“What do you remember?” Rose dived in with a question that could not be half-answered.

Another sip gave him the strength to reply: “Most of it, up to destruction of Kijimi. Enough to I wish I were never the one who hurt your world, or any others in the galaxy.”

His regret seemed sincere but instead of appeasing her, a surge of anger screamed inside Rose. He’d needed a second life to feel sorry about what he did! She boiled to hit him again, fueled by the rage of all the Resistance fighters she caried in her memories. But the vulnerability showing through the cracks of his composed expression cooled her hot blood before she acted on her impulse.

After hating him so ardently, she had long, long years to deal with the aftermath of the First Order. She should have been the wiser… and yet the wound he reopened was too raw to ignore.

“Kijimi?” Rose connected the dots. “You– you weren’t at the battle of Exegol?”

Her attention was drawn to Armitage’s knuckles, whitening around his almost empty glass. An unsettling resolution was showing on his features. A certain courage even, Rose read on the straightening of his back.

“It may sound unbelievable to you, but under the rule of Kylo Ren as Supreme Leader of the First Order I– I passed intelligence to the Resistance.”

“I know. I was your handler.” Rose filled in his gaps, suppressing the hint of a smug smile at the slight shock lifting his eyebrows up in surprise. Her shock had been greater when Finn broke the news to her. “I– I looked for you. After Exegol and the surrender of the First Order troops, I thought…”

An unexpected warmth spread within him at her mention of a search. The idea that, after his ascension and decline from power, someone would actually look for him filled him with more gratefulness than he would have suspected.

But this feeling blew away like the flame of candle when he realized what Rose said about his troops. The news sank, curling in cold dark coils in his chest and left him speechless, long enough for Rose to continue.

“The reports we found mentioned that you were executed for treason against the order. I was– I was furious.” Her voice trembled. “It was too easy!” She blew out with righteous anger, disheartened that he never faced justice. That she was part of all the people who had to fix the wrongs he did to the galaxy. That he died before she could face him again…

Armitage gulped painfully recalling the last face he saw before he flew over the bridge of the Steadfast. Cold and ruthless. Pryde would’ve never given up the fight. So, if the troops surrendered, he supposed the Allegiant General did not see the end of the war either.

“What happened to the troops?” The ghosts of entire battalions of troopers and military cruisers passed behind his green eyes. “And to Ren? And the Sith fleet?”

Every star destroyer name and crew status came back to him crystal clear. Actually, he did not think about his previous life for so long it struck him how many details he remembered.

“We destroyed the Sith fleet, by rallying allies all across the galaxy.”

Of course, they did. Hux always suspected that the deep roots of the old Rebellion and unpacified systems would be a threat of importance if they ever joined their forces. Something their last Supreme Leader completely overlooked.

“Kylo Ren died.” That was what Rey told them. Not adding much to what Finn told her about their last confrontation on Kef Bir, on the remains of the second Death Star.

Rose recalled fondly the everlasting friendship she developed with Rey. The scavenger from Jakku who she could talk about fusial thrust engines for hours. The nobody who grew up to be a Jedi master. Rose missed her terribly.

Rey led a remote life but full of adventures, healing her battle wounds beside a man Rose only met twice. But he was gentle, understanding and tall…

“The last troops of the First Order were dismantled and either sent back to their home planets or judged by the Galactic Council. Many of them ended up working for the rehabilitation the planets that were under First Order control.”

Despite her anger Rose felt her hatred fading at the sight of all the emotions passing on Armitage’s face. The war they fought against each other had been a short period in her long life. During her years of service in the Galactic Council, she lived up to Paige’s memory. She protected what they fought for, this time on a political scale.

“None of that would have been possible without you.” Rose confessed staring intently at him, with the memory of his first encrypted message to the Resistance imposing itself in her mind.

When Armitage sat up with his empty glass, the folds of his opened vest flapping against his dark shirt, Rose didn’t know what to expect. It increased her frustration to have no idea what the man before her was actually made of, when his appearance was warning her whole being to stay on alert.

His expression was not as haughty as Rose recalled but just as calculating. It was luring Rose’s curiosity, and despite the shiver creeping in the back of her neck, she couldn’t help but looking at him. He was like the drawing that a young Rose with too much imagination sketched in secret suddenly came to life. She took in the way his brows furrowed, the slight twist of his full lips, the way he stood, restless, trying to order everything she gave him.

“It’s in the past.” He asserted with finality.

Armitage turned away from her and Rose imagined that what it felt like to him when she locked herself in his bathroom. How did he not tear the door apart? She was boiling to grab him, to have him face her and find in him the courage she had a glimpse of earlier.

“How do you do that?” Rose did not let him go so easily.

“Do what exactly?” Armitage snapped, glaring at her with the little pride he had left.

“Dismiss it! Leave all that behind you.” Springing from the couch Rose stood up to him. “We– we’ve known each other in a past life. I’m not even sure we’re in the same galaxy now, it could be eons ago! How can you move on from that?!”

Closing the distance between them was liberating! As if she had found her way out of the stormtroopers who held her down in that hangar, and she finally had a chance to face him on an equal footing.

Why did she feel the need to rise against him again and again? To push him until he burst, the same way she burnt to let a lifetime of emotions out in the open. The answer most likely began with the years she spent trapped between two lives. But Armitage’s voice clearly implied that hers, at least, contained happiness.

“Do you think I’ll gladly sit down, only for you to put me on a trial that _somehow_ you decided I deserve beyond death?”

His reproach stung. Rose could not deny it, she had been unfair to him but so had he. Once again, their confrontation drew them closer, on the edges of that shared wound they had reopened.

“Why all these questions then? If all you wanted was to leave it all behind?”

“Wouldn’t you be dying to know in my place?” Armitage confronted her with the intensity of his grief. He would not dare to take her for an idiot, he expected her to the same.

“I was shot like a rabid cur! Because _I_ was passing information to _YOU_!” He pointed an accusing finger at her, his chest was heaving from the strength that getting these words out demanded of him. “Because I saved the lives of your precious friends, I never lived to see any outcome of my lifework!”

Finn told her everything about their rescue aboard the First Order cruiser. When she discovered who was behind the encrypted messages that she spent entire nights deciphering, Rose expected General Hux to have backup plans. The man who despised them more than anything in the galaxy should have been three steps ahead of them already. But they left him behind.

She never imagined that this act of compassion would be his downfall.

Armitage stepped away from Rose and the pity he sensed rising in her silence.

“You had your victory. You had time and people caring about you. What do I have left to give you to pay for my crimes?”

Taking a sharp breath in Rose gathered her courage, “That’s not–” But every word that threatened to spill out of her mouth felt wrong, hurtful, thoughtless… The last thing she wanted for the man before her was more suffering.

“I need some air.” He concluded in a shaky breath.

Eventually Rose’s shoulders dropped, tension winding her muscles as Armitage walked up to the window bay and stepped on his balcony. In the dark of the night, the city lights cut his lean figure like in a painting.

She let him go, finding herself alone in his empty living room. Actually, she was grateful he didn’t throw her out given the way she treated him. Rose had stubbornly refused to understand how much he wanted to forget where he came from, when it was her who was unable to let the past die. Perhaps she needed to take some distance too.

A light caught her eyes on the designer couch. It was coming from her handbag like the beacon of a welcomed distraction. Walking back to it, Rose saw the screen of her phone turning dark again. Ironically, this whole mess began with her curiosity to know who the man of the hour was.

Glancing at him, Rose’s hesitation lasted only a few seconds before she decided to further her investigation. The facial recognition unlocked her phone and put her in front the search engine she opened earlier. Half of his name was already typed.

Without a second thought, she completed ‘Armitage Mon Cala Space Agency’.

In a blink, a list of news articles came up on which it wasn’t too hard to recognize his tall figure and unmistakable red hair. He looked so different to the snobbish man she knew. Standing next to the headboard of the agency, Armitage appeared far less threatening although triumphant. It was two years ago, when their first reusable rocket re-entered the atmosphere successfully.

Rose still recalled how her heart jumped watching this historical moment from her dorm. It felt as if she could touch the stars this day. And unbeknownst to her, she walked in his steps the following year. As he left the head of the R&D department in Mon Cala SA, Rose finished her degree and was able to enter the prestigious agency.

After the success of the reusable launcher, Armitage was of every congress, shaking hands and meeting big names. He was in the background of several scientific awards. Doctors and engineers that Rose admired beyond limits. But his ambition was far greater. Earlier this year, he enrolled in a program aiming for the first human settlements on other planets…

Rose’s head was spinning solely from reading all his achievements, and how close they were to her own goals. Without this painful history in common, she would’ve loved to talk to him about her theories on power converters!

In a flash, Rose envisioned a completely different outcome to their earlier meeting. She would’ve been embarrassed beyond measure, but relieved that he came to her help. Maybe he’d have offered her another glass. Maybe they’d be seated on this couch now and Rose would get to know him without the bias of her colleagues or her personal history.

A vibration between her hands shook her out of her spiraling thoughts. It was a new text that, when Rose swiped down, was the last of dozens missed calls and messages that her coworkers sent her. From the most shameless ones to those threatening to come back and save her. Rose ignored the firsts and took time to answer the others.

_Rose, 9:23pm: Sorry for the radio silence! I’m very much alive! Tell Alan not to break anyone’s door please!_

_Lucy, 9:24pm: Rose! We’re worried sick! Are you ok?_

_Rose, 9:24pm: Yeah don’t worry everything is fine :)_

_Lucy, 9:26pm: You sure? Cause we didn’t see you coming out and the automated portal wouldn’t let us back in anyway (so long for breaking into anything :p)_

The fact that her colleague’s main concern was if she got home safely helped Rose coming down from intergalactic matters. Breathing a little lighter, she ended the conversation.

_Rose, 9:27pm: I’m not in danger promise :) I’ll be home soon anyway_

But, apparently, her answers did nothing to prevent her coworker to theorize.

_Lucy, 9:28pm: You should have seen the way he threw us all out X) If he didn’t murder you back there, then you have a fun night ahead Rosie!_

Her text ended with way too many vegetables emojis to be innocent. Rose felt her cheeks catching fire, before closing her gaping jaw. What was she thinking?!

Rose’s gaze inevitably drifted in the direction of the balcony, and the attractive shoulder width she was guessing from her vantage point. Reincarnated enemies would not have been her first guess either…

Oh no! She did not think about it!

She shook her head to avoid finishing her thoughts with too many greens as well! And to that her stomach growled. Not from lust this time, but from actual hunger. It reminded Rose that she hadn’t eaten anything since her lunch and a couple of appetizers.

Leaving her belongings on the couch and her heels down the smooth carpet, Rose tiptoed to the black and silver kitchen in search for something eatable. She chased the burning coming back on her face at the idea of getting caught searching a fridge that wasn’t hers; like an overdressed raccoon.

At least he did not throw her out earlier like vermin.

Thoughts of a more civilized behavior and what the night might have been floated in Rose’s mind when a big piece on the lustrous kitchen counter caught her attention. Carefully wrapped in a bakery packaging, was exactly the treat she was looking for.


	3. Chapter 3

The tips of Armitage’s fingers began to numb in the chill night air. It did him good to take a break, in a place where he was not under the judgement of her intense stare. Her presence was everything he longed for, but it came to him with a painful price. Facing who he used to be.

Unlike his former self, he did not fight the watering at the edges of his eyes. Armitage had to come back from the dead to fully understand what a lifetime of abuse and indoctrination had made of him.

His cold reddened fingers laid flat on large top of the balustrade, holding on the proof of his improvement. When he was given a chance to start over, away from the order and from the war, Armitage made everything in his power to leave the General in the shadows. But all Rose could see was him.

Who cared about what she was thinking?! He sniffed, brushing his hair back in attempt of keeping his red strands under control. When he thought that he had his life figured out this time, this rebel girl showed up again! With her infuriating self-righteousness, as exasperating as she used to be. Accusing him while she disregarded all the damages her previous Resistance caused under the mantle of justice.

She was nothing but an insignificant mechanic! _A rebel scu–_

Armitage did not finish this thought. But one letter away from the end was already too close to… something he never wanted to pass his lips again.

His jaws clenched painfully to ensure it. One conversation with her brought everything that he buried back to the surface. And it scared him more than he’d like to admit it. Everything she embodied, that spark of rebellion that decidedly would not die, made Armitage wonder in spite of his dread. Why her? Why –of all the persons who could come back haunting him– had she been the one bursting into his life and blowing everything up? Leaving him bare, defenseless.

The tension in his body accumulated, sparkling dangerously at the end of his restless fingers like live wires. Usually, work was his way out. It cleared his mind, gave him something to focus on and discharge his energy in.

But she was all he could think about.

For God’s sake! Even with Ren Armitage could’ve found an understanding. But with her? They were on opposite ends of a spectrum, never to meet on a common ground.

And yet, she was the only one that came across him throughout two lives…

At first, he went away from her for his own sanity. Now he worried that putting more distance between them would only aggravate the situation. What if she never wanted to hear from him again? Which he’d understand perfectly, yet his heart skipped a beat. What if she had left already?

At this thought panic seized him without warning. Unwanted and churning his stomach viciously.

It was in this moment of true fear that he realized, no matter what kept them apart, he did not want her away. The calmness and quietness outside did not prepare him for the truth to hit with such a force.

Rose mattered. And if he let her go away, he was nothing but a fool!

With decided steps Armitage turned around, but his resolution to get back to Rose stopped at the opening of the bay window.

She stood there, balancing two plates full of enormous slices of birthday cake.

Rose carefully made her way to the balcony. Her short dress lifted a few inches up her thigh when she stepped over the rail of the window. Armitage’s glance quickly darted away, but Rose was already looking at him and most likely caught his slipping look.

The warm halo of the lights inside played on her tanned skin with the cold blues of the night. Her appearance filled his sight and his thoughts, so memorably that he forgot how to breathe only to take her in.

Apparently, she had no intentions of leaving him either; and it was without a doubt the most comforting recognition of his whole night.

“Want some?”

Rose handed him a peace offering covered with white frosting. Armitage had no sweet tooth, but he accepted the plate, if only to make her stay. Immediately, the air warmed up as she placed herself by his side. He briefly tried to put it on their body heats, but he apparently lost ability to lie to himself.

“Sorry for your birthday party,” she apologized softly.

“It’s alright truly,” he assured her, toying with the spoon she brought along the cake.

It was not.

He threw his bosses and investors out of his home without any explanation. Armitage was pretty certain it’d be a hot topic for the weeks to come. And he most certainly ruined carefully planned negotiations with higher ups operatives. Truly, this party could have been worse!

“I didn’t want a party to begin with.”

His whispered confession dissolved in the air like the first spoonful of cake in Rose’s mouth. A wonderful feast of butter and sugar on her tastebuds, making her eyes close briefly in enjoyment. She always liked sugar.

It was a strange thought, so insignificant, and yet it opened her mind on how little she had changed in two lives. Still driven by the same passions, the same spirit. It left Rose wondering… how much did Armitage actually changed?

Rose had to figure it out by herself.

“Why?” She acknowledged him eventually, not grating Armitage biased politeness this time, but her genuine attention.

Was she aware how light her tone was compared to how much weighed on his heart? Nevertheless, it relieved him to know that she was the only one who’d be able to understand it.

“I’m turning 35,” he explained looking at the distant lights of the city pricking the night like stars, “The older I ever was…”

A small gasp escaped Rose as she realized what he meant.

She had the chance to grow old. And now she lived with the full knowledge of her mistakes and the lessons she learnt. She had experiences that she could rely on, instead of walking into the unknown.

“You did help.” Rose disclosed before allowing herself another spongy mouthful of cake. “Afterwards I mean, when I entered the Galactic Council that succeeded to the New Republic. I read your personal logs–”

“You– pursue a career in politics?”

“Why is it a surprise to everyone?” She half laughed recalling Finn and Poe’s faces when she showed up in senatorial garments for the first time.

Armitage’s gaze trailed, not on her clothes but her spoon, ­and the course it followed from her plate to her mouth. There, a new bite of cake disappeared and left her lips glazed with sugar.

“Well, your records mentioned great skills in the technical field.” He pointed out accurately, not letting his mind wander where his gaze laid.

“What a coincidence,” She feigned innocence where smugness dawned, “Yours too.”

 _Touché_ … Had he not been aiming at climbing the ranks of the order, he’d certainly have work a technical job. In the end they both found their calling in a field where few expected them.

Armitage bowed his head, in acknowledgement that she won this round. And for good measure, he ate a spoonful of birthday cake. As expected, it was too sweet for his taste, but the sugar gave him a welcomed boost. He took another one, helping his empty stomach with the many drinks he previously had.

“How did you get access to my private logs? They were classified.”

“Because I’m smart.” Rose lifted her chin up confidently. “I was your handler, remember?”

When Armitage Hux first contacted the Resistance, there was only one way he allowed himself to tear down his lifework. He gave them no key to decrypt his message. If they were worthy of taking down what Kylo Ren made of the First Order, then they’d have to find the rope he let down for them by themselves.

And she did. Rose pulled that thread with a dressmaker’s skill and unraveled all his well-crafted plans.

“You saved me a great deal of troubles,” Rose gratefully interrupted his train of thoughts. “With the Cantonican Federation.”

“Cantonica federated?”

“A great deal for the tycoons, but not for the people they exploited.” Her lips tightened at this part of her story, then she passed the hair darkening her face behind her ear and Armitage saw her mouth relaxing. “But your records of their businesses showed me all their ties.”

His long sleepless nights spent in dissecting the traders’ accountings hadn’t been in vain after all. That was the great benefit of having spies working for him. Something he sadly couldn’t do now.

“After that I had the Federation on the very leash they wished to hold us with.”

Armitage stifled the upcoming vision of Rose holding a leash with the same self-satisfied smile she wore next to him.

“So, what do you now?” He went on, clearing his throat nervously. “You work at Mon Cala, is that right?”

“In R&D,” Rose couldn’t help her pride. Her hands went down her chest before she remembered that she didn’t wear her badge. Not having something around her neck always felt odd to her. “I’m a space engineer.”

“What is your specialty?” He went on with more confidence, falling back into a subject he knew inside and out.

“Engines. Power converters.”

Armitage leaned slightly in Rose’s direction, perhaps not intentionally but with an interest that wasn’t faked. The rich fabric of his black suit caught the light as he laid down his plate on the thick railing of the balcony.

“Oh, then you must be developing the next long course launcher.”

Rose frowned at him, a flicker of surprise in her pupils.

“How do you know about that?”

“Because I’m smart.” He echoed her own words.

She snorted, looking away from him to hide her upcoming smile but in the soft light of the living room, he could see the corners of her lips going up.

He counted it as a victory.

“I’m keeping in touch with most of the projects involving space travel.”

Had she seriously expected to find him in this life, Rose would have bet he’d work in the military. Instead, they both chose the stars.

The warm comfort of the thought led Rose to open up, “Sometimes I close all the windows shut at my place and I strap my covers to my bed just to recall the long lightspeed travels.”

His longing sigh echoed her nostalgia tenfold, “Ugh, to feel artificial gravity again is my greatest dream!”

Rose tried to not to linger on the heartfelt grunt he let out, but there was nothing justifying the way she licked her lips afterward.

Was he a brand-new man or had he always been like that beneath his greatcoat and leather gloves?

Rose’s skin tickled with hotness when Armitage’s tone lowered to a deep husky confession.

“There is… something that kept me awake at night. I think you might– enlighten me with.”

He had no need to speak louder because of how the distance between them had shrunk. To the point that the hotness Rose felt on her skin was not solely coming from her.

“Would you happen to remember the third law of hyperspace dynamics?”

Armitage ignored the reason why she bit her bottom lip. Her fingers were tracing the edge of the railing and for a moment he wondered if it was embarrassment for forgetting. Like everyone else, he let navicomputers handle this kind of basic calculations before. But in this new time and place, they were like 20th century people in the medieval age. Knowing the principles of wireless communication but without the slightest idea how to make a phone.

Then, to Armitage’s surprise, Rose recited perfectly.

“Following physical principles of relativity, Baryonic matter increases asymptotically in mass as it accelerated towards the speed of light without surpassing its threshold. Its infinite values are equal to Tachyonic matter which exists solely above the speed of light without decreasing lower than the light-speed barrier.”

The words easily flowing out of her mouth filled him with elation. Each one a missing piece to this puzzle he tried to solve in the dark so many times.

Absorbed in her definition by the book, Rose traced the formula in the frosting of her cake.

“To exist in value at the speed of light, energy must be equal to the mass of acceleration and subtracted from t–”

“–the gravitational forces.” Armitage finished in awe.

With her input, his formulas clicked into place. Perfectly ordered. Logic and functional.

For the first time Armitage was pulled down to Earth, caught in the attraction field of the most brilliant mind he met in this life. Her knowledge was the key to scientific breakthroughs that would put humanity closer to space travel than they had ever been. And somehow it was no surprise to him.

“You are marvelous.” He whispered genuinely.

Because, if there was one person capable of outsmarting him in that domain, it was her. The idea shook him to the core both terribly dangerous and alluring. She was that cog in the machine who stubbornly turned the opposite way of him. It was so easy to hate her back then, and for a moment this long hatred clutched his heart in fear of falling in the new path she drew.

The intensity of her stare was already drawing Armitage closer to Rose regardless. Her defiance had faded for a kindness he never saw on her features before. How he regretted everything he did that drove this incredible woman away. He had no idea she could look at him expressing something else than disgust or pity. Then a light shifted in her gaze. Suddenly a new resolution sparked in the depth of her dark brown eyes.

Whatever it was, he did not want her to stop…

The coolness of the night wrapped them in its hold, unable to pass between them where their body heats mixed.

The war they fought was no more, yet an unresolved tension remained. Something unfinished hung in that very space. A kiss away from… a feeling that they never had the luxury to dwell before.

He leaned down on her as she lifted her face up, their breaths melting into the other’s before they had the chance question themselves.

But when she began to close her eyes, a fear of crossing that line wrested Rose from her initial course.

She turned her head away, her heart hammering in her temples, and startled by what she was about to do.

The worse turned out to be her lack of bewilderment. She waited so long to meet someone who would understand her like he did. She knew exactly why she reached for him, and why she ached to finish what they started.

But he was her enemy!

Rose felt Armitage retreating with a wounded breath in. And he took Rose’s breath with him.

“Wait–!” She panted, pleading him to turn around.

Her hand tugged his collar as she stood on her toes. With all the passion animated her, Rose pulled Armitage down to kiss him ardently.

A split second of confusion made him still. Meanwhile, his brain tried to make sense of the short curvaceous body pressing against him. There was a mouth on him, where few people touched him so lustfully. It was Rose’s mouth… igniting a fire that he had no idea he still had inside of him.

His gasp of relief crashed on Rose’s lips. Armitage returned her kiss, mirroring the strength of her grasp on his neck but on her waist. The soft fabric of his suit rustled against the stretchy one of her dress and covered their silent mouthing.

He backed Rose against the railing of the balcony, rattling the plates they abandoned there. Her mouth was sweet and slightly sticky, catching his lips when she plunged on him each time more famished.

Armitage was equally ferocious, battling with her for the upper hand. He had the advantage of height to dominate their embrace. And when he drew a first hoarse whimper out of her, a proud smirk broke their kiss.

Rose didn’t need a long time to turn this crooked smile of his into a O. A louder moan came out of him when she viciously rubbed his bulge. Her palm stroked his length over the light wool of his dress pants. Squeezing him until his unruly hips bucked against her.

His hands turned into clutches, sliding decisively down her hips. Then he found the fleshy grip of her butt and grasped handfuls of her like it could be enough. Armitage desired more than what was given to him. He wanted her to surrender.

Her sugar glazed lips had the flavor of a forbidden treat. One he could finally taste and instantly thrilled him, fizzing on his tongue like a candy. Her sweetness made him carefree, for the first time in forever.

He ought to thank her for that.

Grateful fingers sneaked to the hem of Rose’s dress. They slipped between the bright fabric and her tanned skin, warming up at the apex of her thigh. Armitage’s digits found the soft ruffle of her underwear and, with her assistance, swiftly yanked it down.

“Show me,” His head fell next to hers, where Armitage intoxicated himself from the smell of her hair. Pleading, the back of his hand went up Rose’s arm and caressed its way down until it rested in her palm. “Show me, how to touch you.”

He longed to know in depths how to make her scream.

To have her pinned down and trapped at his home set his blood on fire. But when she brought his fingers to the edge of her mouth it all rushed south. His cock throbbed as his fingertips traced her bottom lip, so close to her pearly teeth.

In truth, Rose was the one torturing him. And she did it with a mastery that would put his old self to shame.

She took one digit inside her hot mouth, sucking on it while staring at him. Her sultry, half lidded gaze had his cock weeping; as much as the swirl of her tongue warming his finger up. Soon, Rose took a second one and coated both with sweet saliva.

It took all his strength not to grind along with the suction of her full lips. Armitage’s body tensed all over in effort not to come. But her free hand fisted the lapel of his vest to keep him close. Fuck! So close that the hand that wasn’t in her mouth gripped the railing hopelessly.

Then, a string of warm glistening saliva stretched from her parted lips to his fingertips lowering between their bodies. Rose hiked her dress up eagerly meanwhile her face searched his in the dark. The tip of her flat nose found his, in a nuzzle nearing tenderness.

Downstairs, Rose slipped his large hand between her thick thighs, switching for different lips just as swollen and greedy that the ones he left. His palm cupped her mound, smoothing her hair on his away down to her slit.

The long and hoarse sigh that escaped her throat, warmed the cold night up. Rose had no idea she was holding on such a frustration. Weighed from two lifetimes. But when he traced her soaking wet folds, there was no denial, in the way Rose cried out, how much she had been craving this!

Her pants cooled her damp lips. They shortened as she wiggled her hips in hope for more of his touch where she was the weakest.

“Oh yes!” Rose hissed at a flick of Armitage’s fingers. “Keeping going!”

For him, her legs spread wider, one of them hooking high on his hip. He was the only anchor that braced Rose up, as well as the source of her wobbling knees.

“You’re– ah! You’re– so good!”

His fingertips went down, teasing her entrance and smearing her wetness all over. Then they went back up exciting her nerves all the way up to her clit.

“Mmh!” Her grip on his vest slipped then clutched anything Rose could hold onto. The next best thing to cling to happened to be his shirt, which caused some buttons to yield under her strength. For that, it was too tempting not to tear the rest of them open and split the fabric over his pale chest.

Rose explored the muscles contracting under his alabaster skin. No one had the right to look so alluring while rubbing her clit so skillfully–

“Ah wait!” In her temples, against his fingers, her heartbeat was erratic. “I’d rather want them inside me.”

Her voice lowered and Rose ended up biting her lips after these words passed her lips. She gulped when he seemed to hesitate, but it was merely to spread her legs wider.

“Look at me.” He demanded with a ton too hoarse to sound in control.

He was barely holding on; Rose saw it the moment she met his full-blown pupils. Fire spread on her cheeks, tingling her back with beading sweat. She tried her best to hold on his stare, but his fingertips teasing her dripping wet pussy commanded her eyelids to close!

Her nails scratched the back of his neck, entangling with damp red hair, as she took two fingers in with ease. Rose pulled Armitage’s head down, climbing him to nip at his mouth.

She cried out between his parted lips, how good he made her feel. She clenched around him, rolling strenuously in dire need to follow his thrusts.

“Ah! Please don’t stop!”

His smell was all around her, filling each one of her sharp breaths. And sweet stars, his body! Rock hard, wrapping her in a steamy embrace. His fingers pumped in and out of her with lewd squelching sounds.

Rose would not hold on long between his hands, so dedicated to fuck her brains out. Each thought was harder to form when he nudged that sweet spot inside of her.

She was so fucking close.

“A–Armitage! Curl your fingers!”

He groaned nearby her ear, nuzzling her hair wildly.

“Say it again!” He grunted in between an order and a plea. “Say my name!”

Rose indulged him with pleasure. His name rasped her throat, loud and needy. And Armitage relished how he was able to distort the vowels coming out of her mouth from a curl of his fingers.

She began to shake uncontrollably, tensing against him to the point of breaking. Her wetness dripped down his hand, hot and slippery. However, Armitage did not stop there or when Rose went limp between his arms. He let her ride him again slowly before thrusting into her again. This time she rubbed her clit along with his fingers, jerking so intensely he had to hold her down. Several orgasms washed over Rose without her stopping whimpering his name with a want nobody had ever shown before.

Eventually, after he pulled out of her trembling core, Rose’s forehead leaned down on his naked chest. Her harsh breath spreading shivers on his sweaty skin.

The weight of her body grounded him, but her soft kisses kept him focused and did not let him forget his hard-on.

“These skills weren’t in your files.” Rose whimpered pleasingly.

Her lips traveled on his pectoral, planting sweet nothings that swelled in his chest with pride.

“I can’t believe how good you are with your hands.” She peppered praises in the haze of her climaxes, melting what was left of ice around Armitage’s heart. Care and attention had no place in his previous relationships. Oh, but how he craved for them.

“Can I show you how good I am with my hands too?”

 _Yes! Please!_ He moaned in thoughts, unable to form the words aloud with her pressed against him.

Four eager hands yanked his dark shirt out of his dress pants. Rose’s gaze dropped on his proper suit magnificently ruined by both their fluids. Overwhelmed by her own wetness, she didn’t sense his through the fabric of his pants.

Now that he had her undivided attention, she got rid of his belt eagerly to free his dripping wet erection. Rose couldn’t help biting her lip at the length of him, throbbing to attention.

Her nails grazed down his belly, tickling the muscles underneath. She felt how hard he was earlier on, but to finally wrap her hand around the glistening tip of his cock– Rose had imagined the touch of it. How its pulse in her hand would make her pussy salivate again. Yet, to her surprise, it was the sound of him that turned her on in the instant. This strangled erotic gasp that he uttered while cupping the side of her face was the sexiest noise she ever heard. Close to his grasp on her, lost between a delicate hold and an urge to claw at whatever was under his hand.

In a corner of her mind, Rose reveled that no one else as ever witness him so undone. Gaping for air as he was finally given the pleasure he was denied for so long. She loved –perhaps to a dangerous extent– that she was the one making his voice tremble and growl.

“Don’t stifle it!” Rose panted in excitement, her hand slowly increasing the jerking motion up and down his cock. “I wanna hear you.”

At her mercy, he followed her command and let out a loud grunt when her free hand tightened on his balls. So heavy and sensitive that his moans reached a higher pitch.

His slick precum made it so easy for Rose to tease the leaking tip of his cock before sliding all the way down his shaft. Keeping her grip just tight enough to leave Armitage on the edge. He turned helpless under her touch, rutting into her palm to follow Rose’s movement.

“Fuck me, you sound so sexy!”

He _was_ too sexy to be true. All lithe muscles and fire red hair. There was no surrender in his powerful thrusts, only an unstoppable will to be satisfied.

His sharp features were twisting in pleasure, his eyelids fluttering while his moans filled with whimpered curses.

“You’re beautiful Armitage.” Rose couldn’t help herself, her short breath matching his.

The grinding of his hips pinned her against the railing again. She could feel him throb at the sound of her praises.

“So beautiful…” She whispered as he lifted her head up.

His moans drowned in her thirsty mouth. Rose let Armitage deepening their kiss, all her attention focused on the pumping of her hand bringing him to completion.

Then his lips left hers for a second before the lewdest cry vibrated against Rose’s mouth. On this alluring soundtrack, hot slick semen gushed between her fingers. It coated her palm, dripping down Armitage’s dress pants as he came down from cloud nine.

His head fall for a moment near Rose’s one. Their heavy breathing, the only noises that were piercing the night.

Trembling and dirty they pulled apart. Heated cheeks and disheveled hair were completed by an air of slight amazement.

Both of them stared right in front of them, avoiding looking at each other as the implication of what they just did sink in.

It was hard to find any regret when they were both covered with the blatant evidence that they both enjoyed it. Multiples times.

No denial, indeed, would satisfy their scientific minds this time. Marked with each other’s smell and fluids. Still shaking from the intensity of their releases. Their satisfaction felt as if they finally solved a particularly difficult equation.

This long overdue and much needed result was making perfect sense now.

But the next step was the hardest to make.

What happened now that they opened the door on a realm of infinite possibilities? Now that there was no side… and no boundaries they hadn’t crossed.

What now?

.

.

.

“Come work with me.”

Armitage blurted an idea whom he didn’t suspect how long it had been on his mind. But when it finally passed his lips without restraint, he felt an intense relief overwhelming him.

In the night air, Rose’s joyful laugh burst with a shared genuineness. But she did not let him time to feel casted aside by her laughter. He turned toward her and met the spark in her dark smiling eyes where softness pulled him again.

“First, I’m gonna need a shower.” Rose snorted blissfully. “And a good night sleep.”

With infinite caution, she cupped the side of his face. Now that the heat of the moment faded, Rose was left more vulnerable than she liked to. It frightened her, as she snuggled up against him. But it was the good kind of scary.

Gently, Rose stroked his sharp cheekbone, staring expectantly into his green eyes.

“Maybe after that we’ll change the world.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end! If you like this story please let me know with kudos or comment ;) Take care sweet readers!


End file.
